14/15
Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I love a clear night sky where the human eye can see some 7,500 stars. I also love a brightening new dawn. Both testify: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ... And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good." In every village, town, or city, in every congregation across the world, I love seeing each individual face. The Fatherhood of God makes real the brotherhood and sisterhood of men and women. In the faces and daily lives of good people in every nation, kindred, and tongue, I see a mosaic of God's love. As children of God, when we're open and honest and vulnerable, we yearn to find goodness, beauty, and purpose in God's creations and in our human sociality. This beautiful stained-glass window depicts foundational truths about life's eternal purpose and harmony. Our perspective changes when we know, as I do, that God is our Eternal Father, that Jesus Christ is His Beloved Son, and that these two glorified Personages appeared to the latter-day prophet Joseph Smith to restore the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to bless every individual and family. I'm grateful for the divine symmetry in the first and second great commandments. God invites us to love Him and to love those around us as He does. As we do, we feel fulfillment and joy, greater love for and from God, and greater love for and from our neighbor. We belong to God and to each other by covenant, ancient and modern. God loves us and knows us better than we know or love ourselves. In covenant belonging, made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can trust the Lord. Because Jesus Christ overcame physical and spiritual death, our covenant bonds can be stronger than the cords of death. I know that by being true to sacred ordinances and covenants we can make in holy temples, we can return to the presence of God, and our families can be united eternally. I rejoice that holy temples are closer now than ever before to God's sons and daughters everywhere. On each temple, we read "Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord." Temple promises and covenants enable and ennoble. They can bless and sanctify, making us spiritually free with the fulness of enduring joy. At a time when the world is in commotion with natural disasters and human injustice, our Lord Jesus Christ invites each person in every nation, kindred, and tongue to come to Him and partake of the fruits of His restored gospel: peace, joy, healing, and love. God's love is intimate and infinite. It fills the universe yet is personal to each of us, one by one. God's commandments, given in love to bless us, teach us His plan and His covenant path. I know that God, our Eternal Father, lives; that Jesus Christ is the living Son of the living God; and that the Holy Ghost prompts, protects, sanctifies, blesses. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost guide and bless us with unity of divine purpose. I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored with continuing revelation through living prophets and apostles, with latter-day priesthood and authority, with companion scripture to the Bible in the Book of Mormon--another testament of Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer, a God of miracles. With all my heart and soul, I testify these things are true and will bless each of us as we come unto Christ and by power and grace are perfected in Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Special Witnesses of Christ – Elder Gerrit W. Gong

Description
Gerrit W. Gong - Amid natural disasters and human injustices, we can find peace and healing in Jesus Christ. He invites us to come to Him.
Tags

Related Collections